OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of self-reported low back pain (LBP), and neck and/or shoulder pain (NSP) among secondary school teachers; and to evaluate the association of LBP and NSP with psychological distress and work-related psychosocial factors.
METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among teachers in the state of Penang, Malaysia. The participants were recruited via a two stage sampling method. Information on demographic, psychological distress, work-related psychosocial factors, and musculoskeletal pain (LBP and NSP) in the past 12 months was collected using a self-administered questionnaire. Poisson regression was used to estimate the prevalence ratio (PR) for the associations between psychological distress and work-related psychosocial factors with LBP and NSP.
RESULTS: The prevalence of self-reported LBP and NSP among 1482 teachers in the past 12 months was 48.0% (95% Confidence Interval (CI) 45.2%, 50.9%) and 60.1% (95% CI 57.4%, 62.9%) respectively. From the multivariate analysis, self-reported LBP was associated with teachers who reported severe to extremely severe depression (PR: 1.71, 95% CI 1.25, 2.32), severe to extremely severe anxiety (1.46, 95% CI 1.22, 1.75), high psychological job demand (1.29, 95% CI 1.06, 1.57), low skill discretion (1.28, 95% CI 1.13, 1.47) and poorer mental health (0.98, 95% CI 0.97, 0.99). Self-reported NSP was associated with mild to moderate anxiety (1.18, 95% CI 1.06, 1.33), severe to extremely severe anxiety (1.25, 95% CI 1.09, 1.43), low supervisory support (1.13, 95% CI 1.03, 1.25) and poorer mental health (0.98, 95% CI 0.97, 0.99).
CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported LBP and NSP were common among secondary school teachers. Interventions targeting psychological distress and work-related psychosocial characteristics may reduce musculoskeletal pain among school teachers.
METHOD: This study utilized a quantitative, nonexperimental, cross-sectional research design. A total of 60 subjects were randomly selected after passing the study's sampling criteria. The Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was to used to determine common MSDs affecting the various regions in the body. The Demographic Pofile Sheet was provided to gather a subject's demographic characteristics.
RESULTS: Filipino migrant workers mostly complain of pain in the low back area (60%) and shoulder pain (60%), followed by pain in the upper back (48.3%) and neck pain (45%) in the last 12 months. Household workers accounting for 73.3% of the subjects commonly complain of pain in the hips/thighs (78.9%), while workers in the service industry commonly complain of knee pain (39.1%).
CONCLUSIONS: Results imply that Filipino migrant workers have a higher prevalence of shoulder and lower back pain in the last 12 months. Household workers are more susceptible to hip/thigh pain. Interventions focusing on ergonomics policy implementation, education on posture and lifting techniques and physical function is recommended. Further studies should consider the psychological and psychosocial aspects of migrant employment, which are known risk factors for MSDs.
Methods: A prospective cohort study involving different populations within the Vidarbha regions of Maharashtra, India was conducted through camps organised from May 2009 to October 2015. A total of 568 serum samples were collected from high-risk people recruited as study cohorts based on inclusion criteria, additional risk factors and clinical symptoms. Samples were evaluated by indirect ELISA using the whole-cell antigens of B. abortus. The results were compared with the commercially available IgG detection ELISA kit to ascertain the specificity and sensitivity of the developed test.
Results: Fever, body ache, joint pain, lower back pain, loss of appetite and weight loss were major symptoms associated with the disease. With the cut-off of > 0.8, the positivity of brucellosis infection was at 12.32% (70/568) compared to 9.33% (53/568) as detected by the commercial kit. The in-house developed ELISA method yielded a sensitivity of 87.5% and specificity of 99.18% as compared to the commercial kits (sensitivity -80.30% and specificity -99.6%).
Discussion: The B. abortus S19-derived whole-cell protein-based ELISA is rapid and cost-effective and can be used for screening brucellosis infection in lieu of the commercially available ELISA kits.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on nurses, aged 25-60 years, who had been working for at least three months at six public hospitals of Penang. A proportionate stratified random sampling method was applied to select 1292 respondents. The Malay-validated BACKS Tool questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale was used to obtain data. Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were performed.
RESULTS: A total of 989 (76.5%) nurses suffered from LBP at a point of time. The factors significantly associated with LBP among the nurses included working more than seven hours [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) (95% confidence interval (CI)) 1.48 (1.06, 1.98)], twisting of the body while working [AOR (95% CI) 1.60 (1.13, 2.26)], manual handling of patients in wards [AOR (95% CI) 1.44 (1.08, 2.07)], and fatigue [AOR (95% CI) 2.63 (1.94, 3.58)].
CONCLUSION: The prevalence of LBP among the nurses in the public hospitals of Penang was relatively high. The factors predicting LBP included working more than seven hours a day, twisting of the body while working, manual handling, and fatigue. The findings from this study may better enable policymakers to devote resources to minimize low back pain among nurses. The nurses should be encouraged to comply with safe working procedures.
Case Report: In this case series, all three female patients in their 4th and 5th decades of life presented with conus medullaris syndrome. Lower back pain, radiculopathy, lower limb weakness, and urinary incontinence are their main clinical presentation. Magnetic resonance imaging shows a well-defined intradural, extramedullary mass compressing onto the conus medullary region. These patients undergone microscopic assisted excision of the tumor and had remarkably good early outcome despite the advanced presentation of neurological deficit.
Conclusion: Despite the late presentation with significant neurological deficit, surgical excision of spinal schwannomas carries a good prognosis postoperatively due to their benign nature and extramedullary location.
Methods: A total of 101 currently enrolled pre-university students were recruited for this cross-sectional study. They answered a questionnaire about their demographic details and their frequency of backpack usage. Their backpacks were weighed for four consecutive school days. The Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire and Body Discomfort Chart were used to rate discomfort levels.
Results: The use and weight of a backpack were not significantly associated with low back pain, as indicated by the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire and Body Discomfort Chart (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: This study did not find an association between the use of a backpack and low back pain in Malaysian pre-university students.